1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an actuator assembly for a suspension, and more particularly to an actuator assembly for a suspension, in which a hinge unit is formed on an actuator and the actuator can be rotated according to a forward or backward movement of a rod.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a suspension must satisfy fundamental requirements for securing manipulation capability and stability of the vehicle during turning and braking of the vehicle. To satisfy these requirements, a posture of wheels caused by a suspension geometry acts as a very important element. Particularly, a camber and a tow have much influence on linear traveling and turning stability of the vehicle, which is closely involved with rolling of a vehicle body.
An actuator assembly for a suspension capable of properly changing these camber and tow according driving requirements of the vehicle is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 2003-0017668.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional actuator assembly for a suspension. As shown in FIG. 1, the actuator assembly is connected with an upper control arm 50, and comprises a joint link 60 consisting of a horizontal part 54 and a vertical part 56, the middle portion thereof being hinged to a sub frame 18, one end of the horizontal part 54 being hinged with a body-side joint end 58 of the upper control arm 50, and an actuator 62 coupled with one end of the vertical part 56 of the joint link 69. When the vertical part 56 of the joint link 60 is pulled by rotation operation of the actuator 62, one end of the horizontal part 54 is descended to pull the body-side joint end 58 of the upper control arm 50, so that the camber is changed while an upper portion of the wheel is slanted toward the body.
FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the embodiment for carrying out the prior art.
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an operational view of FIG. 2. As shown FIGS. 2 and 3, a lever 20 hinged to a sub frame is provided with first and second brackets 21 and 23. The second bracket 23 is coupled to an auxiliary link 10, which is mounted to a control arm or a knuckle. The second bracket 23 is formed with a slot 21a. A mount 33 of an actuator rod 31 is mounted to the second bracket 23 and fixed by a pin 25. For the actuator assembly constructed in this manner, as shown in FIG. 3, the lever 20, the auxiliary link 10 etc. which are coupled with the actuator 30 move according to forward and backward operation of the actuator rod 31. Thereby, a tow of the rear wheels is regulated.
However, the foregoing actuator assembly has the following disadvantages.
The actuator 30 moves forward or backward with its rod 31 fixed to the body. The lever 20 coupled with the rod 31 by the pin 25 is hinged to rotate. Here, the pin 25 essentially slides in the slot 21a, which has severe influence on durability of the entire system.